


You Shadows

by themodernmerlin



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Gen, Ocelot being sort of a dad, Psychic Ocelot, background bosselot if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 18:16:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18530488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themodernmerlin/pseuds/themodernmerlin
Summary: Ocelot can feel Tretji almost as soon as he shows up at Mother Base. He decides to telepathically have a chat.





	You Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in one sitting and absolutely did not edit so, sorry.

            He feels the kid’s presence almost immediately when he shows up on Mother Base—though he knows fully that no one else will probably see him. Ocelot’s always had that peculiar gift, though for a long time the Philosophers tried to train it out of him, keep it down so he wouldn’t know, wouldn’t learn of his heritage through the ghost of his father. It took him until Zero asked him to join Cipher, plus years away from what were probably drugged rations and years of hypnotherapy, to recognize what he was—a psychic. Not a great one, not as powerful as his father, and certainly not as powerful as the young boy he can feel floating in the shadows of Mother Base. Still, Ocelot would be lying if it didn’t make his job a hell of a lot easier and helped him always get on Boss’s good side. And if he was being honest with himself? It was nice that somedays, he would see his mom and dad, keeping a ghostly eye on him, though he rarely spoke with them, the emotions too raw, too harsh.

            Talking to a psychic, another one—it was not the same as the movies made it seem with their telepaths speaking in words. Why words when emotions, images, sensations—all the tricks of the brain—they convey things more clearly. The first time the kid reaches out to Ocelot is when Ocelot is teaching Eli another lesson about trying to start an uprising. It’s a stinging flash in his head, a sense of emotion.

 

_Back off. Anger. Protection._

 

            Ocelot pins Eli down, disarms him quickly, but his words to the boy are mostly recycled—his mind is elsewhere, talking back to the kid with no name. He shows the kid brief flashes of his own life, being raised, trained, being broken down to be made stronger. The message is simple:

 

_I care about Eli too. I’m not going to hurt him, only make him stronger._

            Letting the cursing twelve-year-old go, Ocelot tells him to head to his barrack, and as soon as Eli slinks off in retreat, the spy makes his way towards where the kid is hiding. Tretji, that’s what they called him. Tretji Rebenok—the third child, not a real name, a designation. Ocelot understands that, while his ‘real name’ might be Adamska, or Adam—it is just another designation, Ocelot holds more use to him than Adam, outside intimate situations. Chosen names are stronger, you wear it prouder.

 

            He approaches where he knows the kid is hiding, invisibly—but he can feel his emotions radiating stronger here and sits down. He won’t force the kid to show himself, or to side with anyone—Ocelot can feel that he’s already made his mind up about that. He can feel the kid speak, flashes of fire, of pain and disgust—hate.

 

_You’re like me? Are you here for the same reason?_

            The same reason? That makes Ocelot pause, think. He was following Big Boss into the abyss, and he knew it—and for what? Why would he? It’d be smarter to side back again with Zero, to sell out Big Boss completely—but he didn’t want to, he couldn’t. Part of it was his infatuation, his love for John—enough that he’d rewrite himself over for the man—but was he also just in love with John’s hate? His anger? His drive? Feeding off that negative energy, communing with death….  
  
_Maybe, kid, maybe._

_Will you stop me?_

            Ocelot laughed a little at that and shook his head. He hoped the kid could see him. Ever since Eli showed up, he’d known it wouldn’t end well—no son of Big Boss could live under his old man’s shadow, even if it was just the phantom’s.

 

_I couldn’t even if I wanted to….just keep him safe._

            There’s a flicker of emotion, and out of nothing, the kid appears. Looks like an insect in that get up, but as a Russian cowboy, he really cannot judge. Behind the orange lenses, grey eyes meet Ocelot’s, the kid is observing, trying to figure out his next move. Can he trust Ocelot’s words and thoughts?  
  
“Спасибо…..thank you.” Comes the kid’s voice, soft but harsh. Doesn’t talk very much. Ocelot smiles, but doesn’t touch the kid, despite a brief moment of wanting to pat his shoulder gently.

 

“I’ll meet you both again someday, you’ve got an interesting future ahead of you if you leave with him.”  
  
_You will too._  
  
            The kid is gone in a flash, and Ocelot can’t help but smile gently as he heads back to his office, reading himself for when Eli decides it’s time to start his little revolution. He’ll get the kid back at some point, he’s already laid the groundwork from the shadows.


End file.
